LTG Uncut
by BrolyFTMFW
Summary: What you never knew... LTG AU that's right, an AU of an AU...
1. Justice Is Blind

A/N: These stories should be treated as non-canon yet possibly helpful introspectives into several characters' mindsets. They do not go along with the plot per se, but they (very) roughly fit into different timelines of the trilogy.

Warnings: Blood, violence, foul/racist language, very dark…

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or any other copyrighted things mentioned in this story and the language/thoughts of THIS entire story do not necessarily reflect my own views.

**Justice Is Blind**

Timeline: Pre-LTG

"Hey look!" Everyone in the vicinity turned their heads in the direction of the blue-haired youth. "It's that blind nigger!"

Tousen Kaname sighed as he heard this. _Do not get angry, do not get angry…,_ he repeated to himself over and over again. He had just started middle school yesterday, and Grimmjaw JaguarJack was already on his case.

At the moment, everyone was filing out of school and heading for the nearby bus stop; over 90 percent of the student body lived within four blocks of any given stop on the public bus's route. Several sixth graders, such as Kaname himself, were still getting themselves acquainted with the newly-renovated school.

That didn't matter to Grimmjaw, who had been the "tough guy" since elementary school, bullying other kids and always getting his way. He had a desire to inflict pain only equaled to the giant Zaraki Kenpachi. While the two never really hated each other, as bloodthirsty individuals neither warmed up to the other person. In fact, one could go so far as to say the two maintained a "balance of terror," where neither person and his associated clique could break the stalemate with the other side because a full-scale rumble would wreak mass havoc. The fact that these boys were just boisterous 11 year olds was scary indeed.

Clenching and unclenching his fists, Kaname turned to face the taller kid.

With a firm tone he asked, "what do you want, Grimmjaw-san?" which made the other snigger loudly before his posse (A/N: I hate that word but I have to vary my diction or else…ya know…) joined him.

"Heh, look at ya actin' all tough, fuckin bitch," Grimmjaw mockingly replied. "Take a look around; you don't belong here with that gay hair color; shit, you look like you just came out of a cracked out oven!" As if on cue, his 'friends' began to laugh like a pack of hyenas.

Tousen was feeling the anger re-surface and turned around to continue walking to the stop. When he heard Grimmjaw's voice again, it was much closer and it appeared to be coming directly at him.

"Oi! Where the FUCK do you think you're goin'?" the pale-skinned youth yelled as he was walking briskly towards Kaname, whose stride had broken into an all out run just moments later. He was just a block away from the stop, and if he could reach it before _they_ grabbed him, he was safe…

Unfortunately, Kaname was not too fast, and as a conditioned bully, Grimmjaw was gaining on him by the second. Now running haphazardly, Tousen was stumbling to reach the stop, barely a half-block away…

The next thing he knew, he was lying on his stomach with Grimmjaw's foot holding him down.

_Shit…_

The pressure was lifted off his back and a calloused hand was now hoisting him by his collar. Looking through his barely functional eyes, he met his worst nightmare: a pissed off Grimmjaw, teeth bared and ready to deliver some serious hurting.

"Listen carefully," Grimmjaw whispered menacingly. "Don't talk shit to me if you don't want me to start beating your bitch ass up everyday. Now give me my fuckin' money and we're through."

Kaname was no exception to this treatment; Grimmjaw and his cronies had been extorting yen from their male classmates for the past year. Few actually resisted this ritual of forking over 500 yen whenever asked, and only a handful of boys were exempt from the entire ordeal.

Sighing in defeat, Tousen reached into his pocket and handed over all he had left: 350 yen.

Grimmjaw curled his lip with disgust as the money was handed over. "Feh, this is all ya got? You've gotta be fuckin kiddin' me…"

Leaning into the darker child's ear, he growled, "Make sure you have enough next time or else I'll do worse to ya."

Landing a sharp punch in Tousen's gut, he stormed back to his clique, wiping his hands off as if he had just dealt with the victim of some third world pestilence.

"Leave this piece of shit here. We've got other things to do," the ringleader stated before leaving the scene as the bus pulled up to the stop.

Tousen, who was doubled over from the impact, used all of his stamina to stand erect and jog to the bus in order to catch it. Thus was his life: an interminable epoch of torture filled with pessimism and anger with the world. What had he done to deserve this treatment? He could not help who he was; it's not as if he wished to be born this way.

Throughout middle school, he would continue getting flack from Grimmjaw. It seemed that while the blue-eyed preadolescent had bigger fish to fry, he just loved to harass Kaname because it gave him some sick, twisted sense of pleasure.

But it was not just people of that ilk who played with him.

"So when are you and Yoru-chan getting married, Kaname?" Keigo asked during lunch one day in his usual singsong voice, immediately drawing the seventh grader's ire.

"Wow, will you give that nonsense a rest, Asano?" Tousen hated jokes with innuendo overdoses, such as those about crushes and marriage. He resented assumptions made based on the fact that he and Yoruichi shared a common skin and hair color…unfortunately, he did not want to say anything to ridiculous to anger _her, _the most influential girl in BMS. Along with her partner-in-crime Rukia, she controlled life in school on several levels, although moreso for girls than boys; for instance, she never meddled with the Grimmjaw-Zaraki struggle that dominated most conversations in the boys' gym locker room. Although most people viewed Kaname as an outcast who had nothing, not even a good friend, she was sympathetic to the type of person she would usually step on. Thus, rumors would swirl and the more sensitive kid took exception to even the slightest insinuation of a _crush. _

Speaking of which, he felt that was a highly idiotic term for a subconscious desire for a member of the opposite sex based on superficial qualities and a nascent lust found in most middle schoolers. What did anyone know about who they loved? Such questions could not be answered in these years of their lives, a fact that apparently only Tousen could comprehend.

"Ohhhhh you hurt me, Kaname! Not only do you refuse to call me by my first name, but you deny your feelings for the godde-"

"SHUT UP YOU IDIOT!" it was as if a fuse had gone off inside his mind. The anger had resurfaced.

"Woah, Kaname you alright?"

"NO I'M NOT, YOU KNOW HOW THAT IRRITATES ME AND YOU KEEP PUSHING ME!" Now several heads were turned in their direction, wondering what the ruckus was about.

"Relax dude, it was a jo-"

"I DON'T CARE WHAT IT WAS! YOU'RE SO ANNOYING! I HOPE YOUR HOUSE BURNS DOWN OR I GET TO SHOOT YOU WITH AN AK-47!" By now everyone in the cafeteria had his or her attention fixated solely on Kaname's potential diatribe. Although he was livid with anger, Tousen found himself at the mercy of one menacing Occhi-sensei just seconds after his outburst.

"TOUSEN-KUN! COME WITH ME TO THE PRINCIPAL'S OFFICE!"

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No amount of therapy helped Kaname; most psychiatrists pointed to his lack of purpose and enthusiasm for anything in the world he deemed immensely cruel. Unfortunately, he did not bottom out until the spring of eighth grade.

For the first time in his entire life, Tousen abstained from going to school due to sickness. He believed he had nothing more than a slight headcold that had the potential to become worse on this rainy day; always trying to stay as healthy as possible, he declined the chance to continue his streak of approximately 9 years.

Taking advantage of this newly-acquired free time, he decided to start preparing for the Biology Olympiad. Intent on heading into medicine, Kaname wanted to read higher level material in order to at least reach finalist status next year. Ideally, he wanted to win a gold medal at the International Biology Olympiad before he was a senior; if he did, the chances he got into a top American university would skyrocket. Lately, the top universities – Harvard, Yale, Princeton, MIT, and Stanford – had been accepting less than 4 of all international applicants, which made living in the states seem like an unattainable advantage to Tousen. Unlike most people, however, he would be competing with the best of the best despite being blind for nearly half is life. The transition from darkness to near-complete restoration of eyesight was a marvel he doubt would have occurred even 10 years ago; his opthamologist Ise Nanao was one of Japan's finest and had performed numerous surgeries on him since he was an infant. It took nearly 40 separate operations, but after 5 years of complete blindness, newly-improved laser surgery had miraculously recovered approximately 70 of his optical functionality. This entire treatment would have cost nearly five million yen had his parents not died in a tragic car accident just three weeks after the final operation.

For the limited time that Kaname knew his parents, he appreciated everything they did for him despite his disability. Thus, the accident was devastating to a young boy whose chain of maladies seemed to develop from experiencing one trauma after another. Fortunately for him, his parents' insurance and Dr. Ise's insistence on adopting him – she was like a second mother to the boy – saved Kaname from leaving for his aunt and uncle, who lived in Tokyo. Nanao, however, was rarely home and trusted Kaname to act properly on his own, which he willingly did.

After a few hours of reading through cellular respiration and photosynthesis, Kaname decided to battle the rain for today's mail, which had just arrived at 4:30 in the afternoon. Putting on a windbreaker, he opened his door and entered the raging storm.

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Aizen Sousuke entered his home at 3:37 P.M. with a great deal on his mind

Not only was he soaked to the bone, but he had a Chemistry test which would count as two tests in preparation for the upcoming AP exam. He always laughed when people at Bleach High saw him and continued to ask him what he was doing taking AP Chemistry as an eighth-grader. Not only did he have the highest grade in the class, but he was also the only Chemistry Olympiad semi-finalist from the school, as well as the top scorer in the nation on the qualifying exam with a perfect paper. Already, people in the Japanese Olympiad task force were touting him as a future medalist. As planned, Aizen left himself little time to prepare for the upcoming National Exam because he had spent the entire year attaining peak physical condition for next year's spring track season. Having recently run the 800m in 2:20 and the 400m in 59 seconds, he was already paving his own road to an automatic acceptance to the college of his choice. Although he had been intent on going to MIT, he had recently been lured by Princeton's aura as well as its throne atop the college rankings per U.S. news. Either way, he couldn't go wrong; however, neither the Chemistry Olympiad (which he planned to leave time for winning a medal in during his high school years) nor his athletic endeavors were his greatest selling points. This summer, he would begin to play around with the idea of mind control and research everything he knew about brain waves. No one knew his long-term goals except for himself; and it would stay that way until the very end.

However, the main thing on Aizen's mind was one single thought:

_Where is Kaname?_

He had seen the other kid from afar; not a single day had gone by that Kaname did not attend school. Ever since the beginning, the boy with less-than-perfect vision had never missed a single day of school. This had initially boggled Aizen's mind; he knew all about the boy's mistreatment, but a few of his outbursts in middle school had repelled Sousuke from speaking to the kid. Rather, his mind was drifting to lunch today…

Aizen had been eating his sandwich when he felt a presence behind him. Knowing who it was, he set his food down and spoke up.

"Grimmjaw…" A few of said person's henchmen were snickering.

"SHUT UP!" Jack yelled, silencing them. "Don't call me that fuckin' name, Aizen!"

Ignoring this comment, Aizen turned around from his seat to face "Jaguar Jack," as he liked to call himself.

"I assume you want to know where Kaname is?"

As expected, this statement drew a look of surprise and assent from Grimmjaw. While it's true he lead all extortions, there was a select few people whom he did not approach for bullying money out of. Among this list included most of Zaraki's pack, notably Madarame Ikkaku, Abarai Renji, and Ayasegawa Yumichika, who looked like a fruit but was actually rather strong. Furthermore, Kurosaki Ichigo and Aizen Sousuke were exempt as well. Why? Ichigo had become one of the toughest – and most sought after -- kids in the school ever since his mother died. While his orange mop was a nuisance to most thugs, Grimmjaw couldn't really fault him for it; after all, his own hair was blue.

But then why did Aizen get special treatment? While he was rather fast, he wasn't remarkably strong by any means, and he never fought anyone. In fact, several people had strong suspicions that he was a pacifist Quaker and not the Deist he had been masquerading himself as being. Either way, his beliefs on God were…unconventional, abstruse, and threatening to most kids.

No, the real reason lay in his intellectual acumen, which was so great as to lead classmates to make premature comparisons between himself and Albert Einstein. In the back of his mind, he would laugh at this naïve idiots who misunderstood the difference between biochemists and physicists…if they had to compare him to someone, could they not at least try to use such a trite – and inaccurate – title? Hans Adolf Krebs, John MacLeod, or even James Watson would have been better choices as frames of reference. These contemptuous thoughts were always tempered by his own acceptance that these were merely unintelligent 13 year olds who did not know any better.

It didn't matter to Grimmjaw; all he considered were his own beliefs that Aizen was a genius who would be a billionaire some day. He remembers the day he first tried to scrap with Aizen.

_Jack saw the boy who everyone thought would save the world leaving school. He didn't see anything special; all he could perceive was a 5'3" tall boy with messy brown hair parted on the right side of his head, strands of hair covering the entire left half of his forehead but stopping short of his eyes, which were protected by brown rimmed rectangular glasses. He was neither too lanky nor too plump. However, he looked like a complete loser to Grimmjaw, who stormed over to Aizen and got up in his grill. _

"_You think you're so much better than me, why don't you prove it bitch?" Even as a 10 year old he had a very…colorful vocabulary._

"_Certainly not…but I believe I know where you are going with this. You don't want to do it."_

_Expecting an emotional outburst of some sort, Jack was surprised to hear the equanimity in his response. _

"_The only reason I let someone off from having to pay me is if they're tough; you don't look like shit to me, I'd wipe the floor with you easily," he haughitily replied. _

_Aizen, on the other hand, was unperturbed and had even started to smile. _

"_Do you realize that down the future I could give you more yen than you could ever dream of?"_

_Grimmjaw's face fell slack and his eyes widened before he re-collected himself and sneered at the other boy._

"_Feh, what'd you know? Yer just a nerd who got his nose in the books." This statement only served to widen Sousuke's grin even farther than before._

_  
"You could not be farther from the truth. I have a plan for the future, one that involves me becoming rich beyond anyone's wildest dreams and then fulfilling other dreams by distributing my wealth to whomever I choose. I'm not one to speculate, but a few trillion yen sounds about right." At this point, Aizen's high-level speaking skills were pounding Grimmjaw's brain into submission._

"_What kind of percentage would ya give me?" he asked._

"_Depends on your behavior from hereon in. If you choose to be my ally and follow anything I tell you, expect up to 5 percent of those shares." Jack's heart pounded with excitement. He was not exactly at the other kid's level, but he did know that 5 percent of a few trillion was still a huge number._

"_However, if you take a single yen from me from now until we graduate, or step out of line at any point you will receive absolutely nothing," Aizen firmly added._

_In an attempt to look cool, Grimmjaw rolled his eyes before agreeing with mock reluctance. On the inside, he was hoping for this promise to come true. Until then, he would still do whatever the fuck he wanted, provided Aizen didn't give a rat's ass about it._

"Yeah, I was figurin' you'd know since ya know just about everything" everyone except the two conversing laughed at this statement.

"I'm sorry, but I have no explanation for why he's out. He's probably just sick for once and deciding to stay home instead of grinding out a day here."

Relatively satisfied, Grimmjaw muttered a thanks and left with his "boys" Aizen, who resumed his eating, although not without pondering…

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Kaname had just gathered up the mail and was turning back across his lawn to head inside. However, as he did so he heard a rustle in the bushes. Turning around to check it, Kaname went around to the other side, only to receive a sharp blow to the back.

"Sh-" he couldn't even yell as his mouth was punched at the same exact time. Scrambling about 15 feet away before turning around, he saw three figures wearing thick black jackets, navy blue jeans, and jet black boots. Their faces were shrouded by ski masks, and they each had aluminum baseball bats in their hand.

Kaname realized he was closer to the door than they were; furthermore, he had a stick concealed by his back which he could use as a diversion. He knew he would not be able to stall for more than a second, so he had to be quick.

The 'leader' stepped forward and spoke in a resoundingly deep voice. "If we can't lynch your black ass, we might as well beat it." Kaname did not know these men, but either way he knew he should fear for his life. He waited a moment…

_Now_

Tousen picked up the stick with his left hand and hurled it at the leader's face, smacking him on the forehead and making him drop his bat as he grabbed his skull in pain. Making a mad dash for his house, Kaname felt the other two members on his tail. He needed to pick up speed if he wanted to make it home alive.

Amidst the tall grass he could not see where he was stepping, and in doing so he landed awkwardly on a stone, twisting his ankle in the process while making him fall to the floor.

He knew what was coming, and covered his head hoping to wake up from this ordeal.

The other two caught up and pinned him to the ground. The leader approached and readied his bat for striking.

"Teme!" he growled, before delivering a hard hit to Kaname's back, causing him to spit out blood. The other two joined in and before he knew it, Tousen was being mercilessly attacked with three baseball bats, sending jolts of pain through his posterior chain.

After numerous attacks, one of the other men picked him up by his purple hair and held him in front of the leader, who glared menacingly into his eyes before pounding him all over his face and torso…with a knuckleduster.

Kaname was losing track of the hits; all he could feel were the numerous welts and bruises across his body accentuated by the chilled rainfall. He couldn't breathe, and now he truly knew how it felt to be weak, useless, and unworthy of this world.

_**Forfeit the game  
Before somebody else  
Takes you out of the frame  
Puts your name to shame  
Cover up your face  
You can't run the race  
The pace is too fast  
You just won't last**_

He remembered all the things said about him and how nearly everyone treated him in school. He couldn't take it anymore; he was just not cut out for an existence on this world.

_**You love the way I look at you  
While taking pleasure in the awful things you put me through  
You take away if I give in  
My life  
My pride is broken  
**_  
He wish it were otherwise, but it seemed the others were right the whole time about him and his violent outbursts.

**You like to think you're never wrong – Forfeit the game  
You live what you've learned  
You have to act like you're someone – Forfeit the game  
You live what you've learned  
You want someone to hurt like you – Forfeit the game  
You live what you've learned  
You want to share what you have been through  
You live what you've learned **

After a while, the beatings stopped and instead a knife was plunged into his leg and promptly removed. Unable to bear the pain, he crumpled to the ground in an undignified heap, the relentless rain beating down on him without a care as a pool of blood began to form around his body.

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He must have been feeling unusually generous today. That had to have been it, because Aizen had volunteered to bring all of Kaname's missed assignments to him when no one else took up the offer out of distaste.

So now he was getting off at a bus stop six blocks away from Kaname's house. Homework in hand, he began to jog towards his destination; the rain was not letting up by any means.

High school was going to be a bitch when it came around. Aizen had been carefully watching everyone when they thought he wasn't around…

Yoruichi was just too powerful to fend off single handedly. She had everything she wanted and knew how to get what she wanted. The Shihouin family was starting to make its presence felt around the world; unlike most reactionaries, this clan knew how to modernize with the changing times, and was thriving in the twenty-first century. Thus, Aizen knew that his dreams of greatness directly clashed with Yoruichi's own goals; the next four years would be a psychological battle for dominance. In terms of rhetoric and demonstration of pure intellect, he felt he could easily defeat the girl. However, Yoruichi had three things he did not: money, popularity, and looks to appeal to the males. Yes, Aizen had already assumed that no female would support his endeavors, and quite frankly he wanted it that way. No one understood his reasoning behind his detached, hard-line asexuality. In fact, why would someone great want to marry or fall in love? It would only dilute their own greatness and take them off of the pedestal they might have otherwise deserved. Potentially great men had fallen through this manner in Sousuke's eyes: Jefferson, Bismarck, and FDR were all world leaders whom he respected outside of their need to marry. However, people of his nature simply did not exist. In a way, it was better like this; after all, his uniqueness only made him a greater standout. At the same time, however, he realized he had to draw the line between standout and pariah. If he pushed too far along this vein, he might have others see him as a lunatic. However, for high school that did not matter…his goal for the next four years involved gaining support for his cause, that is, to resist the growing conglomerate that was Shihouin Corp.

Rukia was another powerful noble who was also up there with Yoruichi. Allegedly, those two had been close friends since birth because the Kuchikis and Shihouins decided that they needed to be allies in order to resist "commoner trash," as Rukia's older brother and clan leader Byakuya so eloquently put it, from controlling the world. Aizen had always noticed how the girl was incredibly short, even for her sex. Standing at 4'6" as a 14 year old, she probably would not grow more than 2 more inches for her entire life, according to Aizen's estimates. Furthermore, she had a grotesque fetish for Chappy the Rabbit, even as a teen. He did not care to understand why she carried a Chappy key chain or why she allegedly wore Chappy panties (he shuddered at the thought); he knew one thing: she was not one to be messed with either without support. She could step on anyone and get away with it just because of her family's status. However, she prided herself on being "holier than thou" pure, and looked down on men as basal creatures. Aizen loved tearing down this assessment. He was living proof of a disciplined, complex, and thoroughly logical man who could not imagine being transformed by a woman. His goals were larger than life, and for this reason he knew Kuchiki Rukia's analysis was incorrect.

Ichigo was always different from everyone else, and was a tentative ally of Aizen's. In fact, he felt that if he could continue to cultivate the orange-haired youth's mind, he might successfully resist the numerous traps he anticipated would be set by Rukia and Yoruichi in order to get him to love on of them and thus turn a former friend into a despised enemy. Aizen still had the upperhand, however, with the fact that Ichigo's mother had been killed in a car accident four years ago…ever since then he had been trying his hardest to become emotionless. What concerned him, however, was the boy's love for the rest of his family, and his will to protect them unlike what he had done with Masaki. This could lead to either pushing him away or reaffirming his moderate asexuality, Aizen thought. Then again, Ichigo came off as the type of person who was the exact _opposite- _someone who would abstain from love or romance and go straight for sex. This musing was quelled by Sousuke's later self-reassurance that Ichigo was too virtuous to do such a thing anyway. Regardless, his plan with Ichigo was to make him join his side for good…it would take a lot of mental suasion though…

Toushiro was two years younger than Aizen, but was on pace for the same courseload as the older man. In fact, he had potential to surpass Aizen…academically speaking. No one could rival Sousuke's intellect and ability to innately dissect statements into multiple parts and then choosing the most appealing aspects to respond to. Toushiro's attitude mirrored Ichigo's, but that same concern lingered within the back of Aizen's mind: he was only in sixth grade. As his hormones started to flow through him, could he restrain his soon-to-be primal desires? Once again, he was faced with the same conundrum: how could this all be accomplished? He needed more than just support, really…and right now he wasn't sure if he would look for it in these two…

Kenpachi was no threat for Aizen, who had decided to side with Grimmjaw in this feud. He liked the latter's style over the former's blandness. Besides, when Aizen took off his glasses before taking a shower and casually swept a hand through his hair in the bathroom mirror, he saw an uncanny resemblance between the hairstyles. On the contrary, there was nothing, in his mind, intimidating about several long spikes of hair with…bells at the tips. Aizen did not think this rivalry would ever end; the two were similar in so many ways, except Zaraki believed that he was a fundamentally good person by not extorting money from others. He probably did not need to, anyway because when he scared someone they would give him everything they had and run away. However, in the past few months there had been relatively little friction between the two opposing groups, and the détente was palpable, even to the teachers who felt they could breathe a little easier noticing that during this school year the fights had been occurring less frequently than usual. Zaraki had been lucky to grow much quicker than everyone else; he was already 6'10" and could effortlessly dunk on a standard basketball rim, even with his poor vertical jump. This was one of two physical advantages he held over Grimmjaw, who was only 6'4" -still pretty damn tall for a 14 year old – and weighed in at 200 pounds, or seventy pounds less than his rival. Aizen reasoned that Jack's trump card was his superior intelligence and thus explained the true reason he would bring him over to his side.

Ikkaku was actually rather personable; Aizen liked that about him. He would see the kid walking around and all of a sudden he would look into his face and the other kid would pull out his fist for Sousuke to pound. He didn't have anything against Madarame, and Ikkaku thought Aizen was cool because he was a "genius" like his friend Toushiro. He would have been part of Aizen's plans had he not shown that he was loyal to Zaraki above all else…and since Kenpachi was not in it, neither was he.

Yumichika was nothing more than insane narcissist. Aizen made sure to keep distance from him in case he started to come onto other boys at an early age, which Aizen was sure he would eventually do because of his sincere adherence to a "code of beauty."

Renji was just a complete dirtbag. He had gotten tattoos all over his body in seventh grade (and had started showing them off in gym class) in order to look more intimidating for being part of Zaraki's group. Truthfully, he was one of the weakest "big guns" and overcompensated for his weakness by talking tough until Zaraki came to rescue him from utter embarrassment. Although he was friends with Ichigo, Aizen did not care for him one bit because he had not an iota of sense and was always angry about something. This idiot was going to get himself killed one day and Aizen would give a hearty laugh for a few seconds after reading his obituary in the paper before moving on to far more important things in his life, such as turning on his T.V. to watch some pro sports.

Schiffer was a very exciting prospect, indeed. While his looks might have warded off a lesser man, Ulquiorra's lack of emotion was a promising point for Aizen. He knew that even though he was a year younger, when Sousuke spoke Schiffer would listen, because they had had several small conversations where one professed to becoming a leader who would do things right for a change and the other wanted to see the rise of such a great person. He would bring his close friend Yammi into the picture, who was not anything special (and not even a familiar acquaintance of Aizen's) but was necessary baggage in order to accommodate Schiffer. The only potential roadblock was the friction that would ensue from Grimmjaw and Ulquiorra being in the same school. If everything went as Aizen predicted, then Grimmjaw and Ulquiorra would be competing to win his favor. For this reason, he would make sure to bring in the tiebreaker.

Noitora had no friends after his buddy Stark had informed him of his family's move to the United States. Aizen saw this as an opportunity to get both on his side; he separately promised each that they would see each other again in the future, as colleagues _and _friends. Noitora was very sharp, physically and mentally. He could jump up to 3 feet vertically and more than 4 times that amount horizontally. That was just the tip of the iceberg, too. Two years ago, he led the local recreational baseball team to the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. Combined with Stark, he was part of the best LL pitching tandem in the entire tournament. Stark had thrown a two-hit shutout in the final round of the international bracket. In the championship game against the Southwest, Noitora promised to his team that he would do just as well, if not better (he smirked at Stark while saying this) in order to bring home the trophy. The game itself was a no-hit, 0-0 duel until the bottom of the 6th inning, when Noitora forced his coach to leave him in, saying "I'll win it for us." He singled up the middle for a basehit on the first pitch to break up the aggregate no-hitter and promptly stole second on the one to the next hitter. After a flyout to right field advanced him, Stark came up to the plate. In the most shocking move in the history of the LLWS, Noitora stole home by surprising the pitcher, as he had gained a tertiary lead that put him halfway to home plate; no one had noticed him. As the Japanese team mobbed Noitora, Stark punched him playfully while muttering, "you could've given me a chance at least…" Of course Aizen knew all the details: he was the team's second baseman.

Kaname was…a special case. Could he really be trusted as an associate? He seemed to hate the world because he felt he did not belong, so if Aizen gave him a purpose, would he listen? It was an interesting thought to say the least. He had been keeping tabs on the kid's moves for years. He was very prone to succumbing to whatever side got to him first. The kindness Yoruichi reserved to only her close friends but had shown him so far was a hint that she was intent on using him. Aizen knew he needed to make a move fast, or this kid's brain could be used against him within the next year or so.

Aizen had reached Kaname's house and decided to enter the walkway instead of getting his shoes wet in the grass. He was intent on asking Kaname today about joining him, that is, showing him a new path…

What he did not expect was to see the boy's body strewn across the front lawn, bruised and battered, his blood staining the lawn like wine on a white rug.

Immediately, he rushed to Kaname's side. Checking his pulse, he sighed in relief to discover it was existent. Unfortuantely, he was out cold and Aizen would have to carry him to the nearest hospital, which was luckily only a block away. While wondering who could have done or wanted to do this to the poor soul, he swiftly tore off a piece of his shirt and wrapped it firmly against the wound on Kaname's leg, which he could only guess to be due to a stabbing. Picking him up by the head and legs as gently as he could, Aizen rushed to the clinic.

As Aizen entered the building, the receptionist gasped in horror at the sight of the teen in Aizen's arms and immediately called for a doctor. Within seconds, a stretcher was brought out for the boy and several surgeons rushed him to the ER. Aizen could only hope his life would be saved; it's not that he was afraid of seeing someone die, it's just that he would have missed out on the opportunity to see what the kid could have been if he had an ally or two.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Kaname awoke to the sound of machines and the smell of medicine. He could tell that a night had passed since it was perfectly clear outside.

Memories of yesterday came flooding back to him. The pain….the despair…the hopelessness from being too weak to defend oneself….the lack of a will to live…it was all floating around in his mind and the magnitude of the emotions was almost too great for him, like a dam ready to burst and let all the water through.

"Kaname Tousen?" a nurse prevented this collapse in the nick of time. Shifting his bandage-covered head to the lady, he hoarsely croaked, "y-yes?"

"You have a visitor." She opened the door to reveal Aizen standing there. She promptly bowed and left the room.

Kaname was shocked, and he let his facial expressions show it.

"Aizen? H-how did I get here?"

Said man grinned.

"Relax, Kaname. Your significant injuries should be nearly healed by now, but the doctors want you to stay here through the end of the weekend."

"Was it you, then?" Kaname asked, not needing to finish the thought.

"Correct…I found you after I had brought last night's homework to your house. It's a good thing I came when I did, because a few more hours in that rain and you would not have survived."

Kaname tried to sit up, but found that his body was filled with pain from head to toe.

"W-where did you leave the home-"

"Enough of that," Aizen cut him off. "That's just like you, to focus on your studies to avoid the issue, isn't it, Kaname? It's under your door; do not worry. However, I must inform you of your attackers…you do realize who lead the assault, right?"

Kaname could only come to one solid conclusion. "Grimmjaw?"

Aizen nodded. "Yes…While I have no definitive proof, he and his 'gang,' if you will, asked me where you were yesterday at lunch. I put two and two together and assumed they were coming to your house."

"Did you notify the police of what happened?"

Aizen sighed. He knew it would come to this. "An investigator asked me questions about what I saw, and I did not give any names because we have no proof. Either way, we are not bringing the police into this. I have a better idea."

If it were anyone else saying that, Kaname would have yelled at the incompetent fool who decided to take the law into his own hands instead of telling the authorities. After all, policemen sought to maintain the peace and take down those who disturbed it.

However, this was Aizen Sousuke; Kaname had heard about him around school; apparently, he was a chemistry genius and aspired to make the IChO the way Tousen wanted to qualify for the IBO team. If Aizen had a plan, then by all means he would listen to it.

"I want to form a united front against the Kuchiki-Shihouin coalition that is dominating our school and will continue to do so throughout high school. I know about your dreams to become as good at Biology as I want to be in Chemistry…for this reason I propose that we make an official alliance to start the beginning of a new era in our school. We will not yield to those two nobles' demands, and as more people see this they will join our cause. Later on, as we prepare for fighting these two in the real world, I will extend my partnership to people all over the world who may be interested in seeing the fall of Shihouin Corporations. So think carefully, Kaname. Do you want to continue living futile life, or do you want a higher purpose to dedicate yourself to?"

Aizen knew he was laying it on a tad too thick at the end, but he needed to use every tactic possible to make sure this would work.

Kaname, on the other hand, was actually deeply touched by this apparent offer of friendship and responded nearly right away.

"Aizen…I don't know what to say…first you save me physically, and now here you are trying to save me emotionally too? I am certainly thankful for all you've done and I gladly accept your proposal. I hope this is the start of something big."

Aizen smiled. This plan was a success. "You no longer have to worry about Grimmjaw; he will never so much as insult you now."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Kaname returned to school the following Monday with a new look of determination. He was ready to tackle every challenge he might face, all because of this pact with Aizen.

After Aizen had left on Saturday, Nanao, who was visiting Sapporo for a symposium, had called Tousen to ask him how he was. Although she had seemed intent on starting a case, Kaname was able to reassure her that he had it under control. She seemed pacified after hearing Aizen's name come up in the conversation. It seemed that the scientific community as a whole was starting to recognize Sousuke as a precocious teenager.

As he headed for the main entrance, he was stopped by the same face he had seen in his nightmares before.

"Heh, looks like someone had a bad weekend!" Grimmjaw and the others howled with laughter.

Kaname remained composed and decided to take a page out of Aizen's book. "Funny you would mention that, _Grimmjaw_. How was your Friday night?" Kaname was rather certain that Jack knew that he knew who his attackers were.

"It was great, really. I had a fun time with my _punching bag_." Some of the others couldn't stifle their laughter. "I decided to see ya in the morning instead. I want double for you not bein' here on Friday." Grimmjaw's anticipating smile betrayed his glee in watching Kaname suffer.

_Not this time…_

"Find someone else for your money," Tousen said before continuing on and walking towards his homeroom. "I don't take orders from thugs." He yelled over his back, extracting gasps from passersby.

From the sidelines, Yoruichi and Rukia waited in bated breath for Grimmjaw's reaction. They had been waiting for that sick bastard to get shown up by someone. Secretly, Yoruichi was happy for Kaname. He had stood up for himself for once.

Grimmjaw was not about to let him get away with it though; in fact, he was livid with rage.

"You son of a bitch! I'm gonna kill you!" He was charging straight for the purple haired man in front of him, with a desire to destroy fresh on his mind.

"_Grimmjaw!_"

Jack's pale blue eyes widened in fear and he stopped running almost instantly before turning his head, as did several others, towards the source of the cold voice that resonated throughout the hallway.

Aizen spoke up again, this time piercing Grimmjaw with a stern stare and then an equally stern voice.

"I'm afraid I won't be able to forgive you if you attack Kaname."

Realizing that he was torn between defending his pride and losing any chance of being part of Aizen's grand schemes, Jack merely bared his teeth angrily before turning away from the scene and leaving by himself.

As if nothing had happened, the shocked students resumed their normal frenzy. Aizen walked up to Kaname and asked, "Now do you see what I meant?" before leaving in the opposite direction, not even waiting for an answer.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

That night, Kaname was busy making up what he had missed when he his phone rang.

"Hello?"

"Kaname, how's it going?" Aizen answered on the other end of the line.

"Today has to be one of the best days of my life. It's all thanks to you, Aizen. Arigatou gozaimasu."

A chuckle, then a response. "There's no need to thank me, I'm only doing what I see fit. You have the ability to do great things, and the purpose of my call was to help you out with the Biology Olympiad."

Kaname's heart leapt. This was almost too much help, considering he had not done anything in return.

"Yes, I am sure you're excited. I know you are reading from outdated textbooks on this stuff; forget it all, I have the only book you will need to get to become a finalist by next year at home; I had used it for AP Biology last year and figured you would want to use it because it doesn't miss a single bit of information."

Kaname was on cloud 9. Just to check, he asked, "Is it..free?"

"Don't talk such nonsense, Kaname." Kaname winced. "Of course it's free."

"Wow…I feel greedy taking this from you without any recompense, but if you insist…I'll be waiting for it tomorrow."

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Graduation was upon the 8th graders at BMS. The following dance had a Grammy Night theme, but two individuals did not give a shit, because the whole "theme" crap behind a graduation dance sounded ridiculous. It did not matter though; they were just saving some of their own money by eating the food provided by the school.

The gymnasium dance floor was darkened and only illuminated by the strobelight brought by the dance's DJ. As the latest J-pop song was finishing, a figure with silvery-purple hair could be seen speaking to the disc jockey. 30 seconds later, he made an announcement:

"Ladies and gentleman, up next is a song that has become a hit in America…give it up for 'Papercut' by..LINKIN PARK!"

Apparently not even half the grade cared much for the band. Aizen was one of the few who actually was a fan of the music. Obviously, he did not dress like a haza, thus proving one could listen to LP and still be somewhat "normal" (i.e., non-haza).

As he made his way over to the youth he saw a perpetual smile on the kid's face. "I didn't expect you to be a Linkin Park fan, Ichimaru Gin." The boy's fox-like smile grew wider.

"Oh, really? I wouldn' a thought the same fer ya, Aizen Sousuke. It's better than the crap they put on fer them 'popular' kids, ne?"

He could see it in Gin: the desire to resist the nobility. He had never spoken to him until now, although he had heard about his mysterious ways, accentuated by the ever-present grin on his face. Ichimaru would definitely be a huge advantage in his ability to lead people on…yes, it seemed as if things were moving a lot smoother than Aizen could have expected.

Thus, Los Tres Grandes was christened.


	2. Damn Yankees

A/N: Chapter 2 of LTG Uncut…non-canon as always, some OOC as well….

Warnings: More foul/racist language, some blood and violence

Disclaimer: Once again, I don't own anything that is copyrighted. The views in this fic are not necessarily my own.

**Damn Yankees**

Timeline: Post-Liberalization (right after Chapter 2 of LTG), except the next day is February 13, not Valentine's Day

"_Revenge is a dish best served cold"_

_**Welcome to the house of pain, Just Blaze niggaz**_

_**Theres no way out, it seems I can't get free  
Somebody tell me what's happenin to me  
**_

_**The country bud got me chokin  
I'm on a mission to the point motherfuckers think I'm smokin  
Yea that sick nigga Biggie wit the H-shot fifth  
Wit the extra clip for that extra shit  
Don't you know that killin is thrillin  
All the blood spillin, is all a part of drug dealin  
A born gangsta my daddy was a thug  
Had a .38 wit the hallow point slug  
So when he lit shots  
Niggaz dropped quicker than bootlegger sells his liquor  
A little nigga tried to squeeze .22's in my Reebok shoes  
Payin dues, while kids was on their one's and two's  
Now I'm much older, colder, fuck a holster  
Got the Mac .1s swingin from my shoulder  
It's a damn shame I got to put my momma through this strain  
I'm livin in a house of pain**_

_**Is anybody listenin and tell me can you can see this darkness surroundin me  
Now it's gettin colder heavy on my shoulder and it's gettin hard to breathe  
And it's gettin blury, I'm gettin worried cause it's gettin hard to see  
When you're living in the house of paaaiiinnn**_

_**The motherfuckin dust kicker, who can you trust?  
Do you have the heart to see a nigga?  
Before you bust, my name is spoken on the tongue so many foes  
Bustin motherfuckers out the blocks and I ain't even go  
Now how the hell do you explain my claim to fame  
From doin fix to bustin tricks out the fuckin frame  
Got these bitches on my jock niggaz on my block  
Jealous ass suckers got it duckin for my smokin glock  
And bustin niggaz ass is to stay alive  
Skinny ass playa watchin bigger motherfuckers fry  
They ask me how I'm livin? how I'm a hustler?  
Buckin busters 'til they die  
Now it's on in the ghetto you ain't heard?  
Niggaz got they AK's headin for the bird  
Aimin at them skinhead bitches let it rain  
Givin 'em, a wet welcome to the house of pain**_

_**MJB, be worried niggaz, yea, Nas...**_

_**Wendy Williams say I stayed dust maybe I should  
cuz these rappers'll have your phone tap like Savion Glove  
And on the West yo police corrupt, some are bloods  
But these Teflons I loaded explodin some mugs  
I'm like Furious in "Boyz In the Hood"  
But at the drive through I'm ain't runnin I'm dumpin  
Crazy like a piru and load up, know how Nas do  
I'm callin Henchmen to save shit, to organize a black truth  
And we party hard party wit Nas  
Since they ain't no more - Mardi Gras  
And Bush won't apologize  
I got gangsta hoes Kobe Bryant scared to sodomize  
And .45's for them suckers y'all idolize  
Ya'll yellin my name but y'all soon dy-in  
Tryin to portray real but they be ly-in  
Cuz they want the real niggaz to die so they can gain  
But neva that, this ain't eva lastin this is the house of pain**_

"Grimmjaw…"

The man in question had his iPod on full blast, listening to Biggie Smalls' "Living in Pain." After he did not hear the first time Aizen called his name, the brown-haired teen put a hand on his shoulder from behind. Grimmjaw almost immediately spun around, looking to punch whoever was bothering him at this moment; he was heading for his Diablo and was thinking of going for a nice long drive.

"WHAT THE F- oh, Aizen," Jack realized whom he was talking to. Turning the volume down on his iPod, he asked in a calmer voice, "what do ya need?"

"Gin and I were wondering if you would like to shoot some hoops with us."

If it had been anybody else, he probably would have rejected the offer. However, he wanted to see this mysterious man while he was playing a sport…he had yet to see a flustered look appear on Aizen's face. Inwardly smirking, he gave his answer.

"Sure thing, I'll see ya at the gym in thirty minutes."

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hanatarou did not understand why everyone hated bowling. It was an intense sport, which it WAS, not a game as many people called it. It required intense concentration, required an exertion of extreme physical force, and created legends out of men.

This did not bother him as much as being constantly teased by Soul Society. He heard nasty things said about him, such as "Onnada" and "shoujotarou." It seemed everyone was questioning his masculinity. One painful incident stuck out in his mind.

Yamada was just walking back from school and heading into his hybrid; he had hoped it would win him some cool points with everyone but all it did was make him look like a premature liberal.

Looking down at the ground, kicking a pebble or two while he was walking, Yamada failed to notice the larger man in front of him stopping, and thus bumped into the guy.

"Woah, what the-" Ganju turned around and saw the lowly Hanatarou mumbling "Gomen" under his breath but refusing to look in his face.

"Oi! Hanatarou look at me when you speak!" Shiba roared. When Yamada refused to respond, he hurled a fist to punch him, only to be stopped.

Looking up at who stopped his arm, Ganju's eyes widened in a mixture of shock and fear.

"Shiba…you bastard." Ganju gulped; what did he do to infuriate Zaraki?

"Don't hit girls."

"BWAHAHAHAHAHA!" They both roared w ith laughter, purposely rubbing shoulders with Hanatarou, who fell over from the impulse.

Sighing, Yamada thought out loud, "why don't I ever stand up for myself?"

"Stop talkin' to yourself, Onnada." The two were evidently within earshot, and laughed after Zaraki's snide remark.

Heading over to his car, Hanatarou saw Rukia's 2009 Acura next to his own car. Feeling honored that the great Kuchiki would park next to him. He had always had dreams of being Rukia's one and only, but she seemed to push him to the side like the popular girl she was. Why would she settle for a nice, timid kid like Hanatarou when she could have a big bad boy like Ichigo? This negative thought ate away at Yamada every waking moment of his life. However, he would not stop showing her courtesy; it was in his nature to act submissive to everyone, even those who stomped on him.

On the whole, no one really paid attention to him. Not even the tough guys took a second look at him; he was the ultimate

invisible man, it seemed. In eighth grade, Keigo actually dared him to ask Grimmjaw to sign his yearbook. Legend has it that Jack took one bored look at Hanatarou, actually spent twenty seconds writing something, and then walked away. As Mizuiro and Keigo looked over his shoulder to read the note, they saw:

_Onnada,_

_Don't talk to me._

_Jack G._

"BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA" the other two roared with laughter while leaving a grimacing Yamada to wallow in his misery.

That was all 100 percent true.

Unfortunately for the boy with chin length ebony hair, he had spotted a GPS in Rukia's ride. As if he were electrostatically attracted to it, Hanatarou scuffled to the driver's side of the car, his hands and face pressed against the window examining the model. For some reason, he was obsessed with cars with GPS's…probably ever since he had made another mistake with Grimmjaw.

_4 years ago_

Hanatarou accidentally bumped into someone he would rather die than have to talk to. Gulping and looking into the venomous eyes, he said, "G-g-g-gomen N-n-n-nasai, Gr-grimmjaw-san." This was just after school and had been walking with his head down for no apparent reason other than to avoid being noticed.

Before Jack could spit out any profanities, another voice interrupted them.

"Looks like ya can't even handle that chump, Grimmjaw!" Zaraki Kenpachi had arrived, his unkempt hair hiding his smirk. This was a time before he donned the bells, put him dangerously close to looking like a haza.

"Che, he's nothin' Ken," Jack spat out. Everyone knew that Zaraki hated the Americanized version of his given name.

"Shut the fuck up, Jack. Least I don't have anythin' to do with those fuckin' fatass SUVs," Zaraki snarled.

Hanatarou, afraid of getting caught in the crossfire of another fight between two rivals, piped up.

"H-hey that's wrong! In fact, if you don't have an SUV you must be poor!" Grimmjaw cracked up when he heard this.

"See how tough ya are? You got bitched by fuckin' SHOUJOTAROU of all people!" he was laughing so hard that people were turning their heads in his direction. It was quite a sight, actually: Hanatarou stuck in "no man's land," that is, any area between the two uncouth youths, one of which was doubled over in laughter.

Just as Zaraki was about to grab Hanatarou's shirt, a recomposed Grimmjaw swatted his hand away.

"Let 'im go, he's had his fifteen seconds of fame, ne?"

Sighing in reluctant defeat, the raven-haired giant answered, "Fine…next time that onna says anything I'll wipe the floor with his bitch ass," Hanatarou heard as he was leaving, gulping with fear.

"Oi! Hanatarou, what are you doing?" Said boy's eyes froze as he was snapped out of his flashback and brought back to reality faster than you could say 'lehberal.'

It was the voice of the goddess he had only heard in his dreams…Rukia Kuchiki.

Facing Rukia with a sheepish grin while scratching the back of his head with his right hand, he replied.

"I was just admiring your car, Rukia-san."

Rukia's eyes narrowed dangerously as she furiously kicked Hantarou in the shin before grabbing his shirt and turning her head up to his ear.

"Never call me 'Rukia'" she dangerously hissed. "You're not deserving of the _honor_."

Scared for his life and afraid of getting whooped and made fun of the next day for letting a girl beat him up (granted it was Rukia, but still…), he silently answered, "S-sorry, Kuchiki-sama," unintentionally sending shivers down her spine.

Truthfully, Rukia would love nothing more than for Ichigo to call her that, because if Hanatarou could evoke such a reaction, she shuddered with joy at the thought of the strawberry saying the same thing. but he never called anyone by their last name, nor did he add the honorific at the end. Ideally, she wanted him to call her "Rukia-sama" so that he would completely submit to her will. She was close, but his male pride…and Aizen's presence, no doubt…had prevented him from doing so.

Right now, Rukia Kuchiki wanted to go to the mall and meet up with her best friend Yoruichi over there. In her way was the boy whose masculinity often came under question.

Letting go of him, she haughtily opened her door, seated herself, and started her car up. She made a mental note to go for a car wash after Onnada's face had defiled her window.

"Later, flower boy," she said in that sickeningly sweet voice before pulling out of her parking spot and driving off the school campus, leaving a once-dejected Hanatarou in awe.

"Kuchiki-sama…touched me!" eyes wide with joy, he jumped into his car and sped off to the nearest McDonald's to honor such an occasion.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Parking in the lot in front of Karakura 1 Sports Club, Grimmjaw exited his Diablo before entering the gym.

"Name?" The clerk asked him.

"Grimmjaw JaguarJack," he nonchalantly replied. After receiving clearance, he entered the basketball court, which was just a left turn away from the main desk and a short walk down a wide corridor. When he got there, he saw Gin and Aizen merely shooting around. Both were already working up a sweat from shooting nothing but 3 pointers. For some reason unknown to anyone but himself, the stoic youth kept his glasses on.

"I'm here, ya faggots," Grimmjaw greeted. True, most people would get offended by this and leave (especially the political correct libs), but these two knew they were dealing with a dirty mouth in dire need of Orbit.

Gin was dribbling a ball between his legs at the half-court line. Driving in to the left elbow before stepping back and flinging the J, he yelled, "KOBE!"

_Swish_

"You think that's an impressive, don't you Gin?" Aizen said, giving off a wicked grin.

From the half court line, Aizen took a few dribbles while keeping his head cocked to the side so that he was showing his murderer's grin to Grimmjaw. Without warning he jumped and brought the ball slightly above his head, his right hand directly below the ball and his left supporting it, before flicking his wrist and firing away.

Maintaining his perfect form and follow-through on the descent back to the ground, he yelled, "BUCKETS!"

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hanatarou had had an enjoyable meal to say the least: three triple quarter pounders and two super size fries. He ate so much that in another world one would think he was a fat slob, really. Fortunately for him, he was born with an exceptional metabolism.

Feeling satisfied, he entered his house and logged onto his instant messenger. Noticing that Rukia was on, he decided to IM her.

**Hisagomaru1129:** hey

**x9SodeNoShirayuki9x**: wut do u want

Nervous of where to go from here, he continued.

**Hisagomaru1129:** i wanted to kno why u hate me

**x9SodeNoShirayuki9x**: i dun hate u, but if u think u can get with me then forget it

**Hisagomaru1129**: thats not wat i was askin but ok…

**Hisagomaru1129**: why are you so mean to me

**Hisagomaru1129**:?

**x9SodeNoShirayuki9x**: shut up, im busy

**Hisagomaru1129**: so you do hate me

Deciding to have some fun, Hanatarou pressed farther

**Hisagomaru1129**: just because you were born with more money than the rest of us doesn't make you any better

**x9SodeNoShirayuki9x: **lol

**x9SodeNoShirayuki9x: **dont be jealous

So he was much more self-confident online than in person…so what? No one even noticed him anyway and very few remembered who it was that pissed them off the night before. Thoroughly ticked off with her arrogance (despite his reverence for her beauty, he was one of those kids who said whacky things to get attention too), Hanatarou went for the kill…

**Hisagomaru1129**: im not jealous of a midget like you

**x9SodeNoShirayuki9x signed off at 3:44 PM**

Gasping with horror, Yamada scrambled to create another screen name. He couldn't be blocked…talking to Rukia consisted of 90 percent of his online time. Quickly creating a new account, he signed onto it and IMed her again.

**imsorry112990:** sorry for making fun of you rukia

**x9SodeNoShirayuki9x:** I hope you are, otherwise id set ichigo on u

**imsorry112990: **LOL

**imsorry112990:** strawberry can't do anything to me

**x9SodeNoShirayuki9x:** that's it

**x9SodeNoShirayuki9x**: im telling ichigo

**x9SodeNoShirayuki9x:** enjoy getting your ass kicked tomorrow

**x9SodeNoShirayuki9x****signed off at 3:59 PM**

"WHAT?" It had all happened so fast, and after reading and re-reading the last three lines, he went into a panic attack. Ichigo was going to kill him now.

Creating yet another name to suit the situation, he contacted the last available person on his buddy list.

**RuKiAh8sMaGuTs:** ew

**Suzumushi:** what do you want now hanatarou?

**RuKiAh8sMaGuTs**: you phail

**Suzumushi:** Wow…you incompetent fool

**RuKiAh8sMaGuTs:** your mom's an incompetent fool

**RuKiAh8sMaGuTs:** ohhhhhhhhhh burnnnnnnnn!!!!!!!!!!!!!

**Suzumushi**: Wow, you have no life

**Suzumushi signed off at 4:05 PM**

"Well this sucks," Hanatarou sulked. Suddenly, a bright idea popped up into his head: 6 bowls of cereal to calm the nerves.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Holy motherfuckin' shit on a stick, Aizen."

That's right, his half court shot was 100 percent wet, causing even Gin to open his eyes in shock.

"I told you, this is all just one large physics game to me," he casually replied.

"Quit braggin,' Aizen. I know my physics shit to, I ain't half bad at it." Jack smirked. It was true, physics came naturally to him because mathematics came naturally as well. Thus, impressing Grimmjaw with his prowess did not work as Aizen would like.

"But yer more than half bad at ballin," Gin butted in, smiling even wider at his witty humor.

"Che, so what? I bench more than y'all niggaz combined," he defended himself with Western ebonics.

Aizen turned away from the conversation. Of course Jack did not know how he became so strong, Sousuke had made sure of that…

_19 months ago_

The blue-haired menace and his taller friend were at Aizen's doorstep. Earlier today, he had personally telephoned them and offered to make them stronger provided they did not discover how he did it. Although they were unsure at first, his persuasive words coaxed them towards agreeing; after all, Grimmjaw was looking to standout so he could try out for an NFL team; he felt a 285 pound bench press was not enough. Noitora was hoping to maximize his pitching potential; in his eyes, an 80 miles-per-hour fastball did not cut it.

"What do ya think he's gonna do?" Noitora asked.

"Feh, probably some training device or some shit like that," Grimmjaw nonchalantly replied before the door swung open, revealing a fully clad Aizen. He wore a navy blue shirt that said, "I'm with liberal" in white lettering and showed a large finger in the same color pointing to the wearer's. Futhermore, he had a pair of generic auburn shorts coupled with ankle socks.

"Shit, I thought ya took of the socks at home at least!" the shorter man exclaimed.

"No, walking barefoot feels so…"

Both Espadas awaited the taboo word. Everyone knew that Aizen had a pseudo-obsession with liberals and an attached goal of eradicating the world of their existence. While some were scared off by his talk, these two realized it was all tongue-in-cheek and had even helped him co-invent "lehberal," a spin-off of the other word that intended to show that the whole set-up was a joke. Currently, these three said it the best, making sure to use their lowest pitches possible while keeping their neck muscles taut, thus mimicking a croaking frog yet still cracking people up.

"…proletarian." Their eyes widened in mock amazement.

"Hold on…did Aizen just…." Noitora started, his grin growing wider.

"…skip the chance to say…'lehberal'?" Grimmjaw finished, croaking the last word out as intended.

All three laughed out loud at this shocking development; it was a mildly amusing LOLfest.

"Ah, but where are my manners? Make yourselves at home," Aizen gestured to the interior of his house. Stepping in, the two made their way to his living room couch.

"Anything to drink, perhaps?" they were asked.

"Yeah," Jack quickly answered. "Lemme get a Guinness with some hard lemonade, please," an odious grin on his face. Everyone knew that if you were looking for any drugs, alcohol, or sex…it wouldn't be found in this house.

"You're too funny, Grimmjaw," the spectacled youth replied with joyful sarcasm, eliciting an angered reaction from the larger teen.

"Shut the fuck up, Aizen! If you call me that shit one more time I'll fuckin' kill you!" he roared at his victim, who was unfazed by this verbal onslaught.

_After today, that possibility will be gone,_ Sousuke thought to himself.

"Anyway," he continued, brushing off the cantankerous kid's comments, "what will it be?"

"Gatorade," Noitora spoke up. Having watched hundreds of sports drink commercials, he drank only two things :Water and –ade beverages, usually Powerade and Gatorade.

"I'll have the same," Grimmjaw finally said after coming down from his emotional height.

A minute later, Aizen had returned with two bottles of Cool Blue Gatorade, tossing one to Jack and Noitora each and sitting at an armchair across from the two. The following calm atmosphere was interrupted only by frequent sipping noises for the next minute.

"So…what's this thing ya wanna show us?" Noitora asked as he had just finished half of his drink.

"It's something you will want to get your hands on as soon as you lay eyes on it," Aizen responded.

"Stop bullshittin' and say what it is," Grimmjaw interrupted, having finished his beverage by now.

"Relax, I'm going to get it right now. Hold on," Sousuke rose from his chair and headed upstairs to his room, counting down silently in his head.

_3…2…1…_

"Ah, I'm feelin' mad tired…shit…" Grimmjaw's head was rocking back in forth as he was falling in and out of consciousness.

"You alright?" Noitora asked. His answer was a resounding 'thud' and a rhythmic breathing pattern emanating from Grimmjaw.

Running back down with two weight-belts in his hand, Aizen saw Jack on the floor and looked at Noitora.

"What happened here?"

"He was feeling tired and just fell down…" he responded.

"Shit, I'm feelin' kinda sleepy too…those belts are cool though." And he fell horizontally over Jack's head, so his feet where on the other man's face,

_Looks like I put in the right amount of sedative, _Aizen mused. Now the real fun began.

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A/N: I know this is unconventional for me to do, but I just realized how hard it is to sit down and type 10,000 words…looks like this story will top out at a little OVER NINE THOUSAND!!!!!!!!! (I couldn't resist)…next one is gonna have so much stuff in it that it should reach 10,000 though. Anyway, back to the flashback…

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Grabbing Noitora's collar with his left hand and Grimmjaw's with his right, Aizen dragged the two to a room in the back of his house. Inside was an innumerable spread of chemicals and contraptions. Although the room could not have been more than five hundred square feet in area, it had various stations for all sorts of scientific work. The 5 x 10 feet desk near the entrance supported a regular PC as well as mountainous of notebooks containing numerous details of information. The three cabinets on the desk's left-hand side contained hundreds of peach-colored file folders, each labeled at the tab and storing myriad data. About 10 feet to the right of the entrance was an even larger table with all sorts of laboratory equipment, from pipettes and burettes to a centrifuge and PCR machine. The rest of the room consisted of three counter, each with special reagents that Aizen had successfully ordered through the alias "Teru Mikami." All the way in the back was another doorway leading to a small 8 x 15 x 10 feet room with yet another computer, three different telephone receivers attached to three different jacks, and four shelves, each mounted halfway up each wall with dozens of cardboard boxes protecting hundreds of science research papers. On the computer screen was a cross-section of an individual actin from a research paper from the NIH website. This entire two-room complex created Aizen Sousuke's "underground laboratory." Although it was on the same floor as most of the house, its presence had been completely sealed with the illusion that there was just more wall where the lab's main entrance was. The lab had taken over 10 months to develop to its present state; creating Kyouka Suigetsu, a process which had taken him over 15 months, seemed like a walk in the park compared to sifting through the plethora of papers and instruments found throughout the facility. Realizing that space was cramped for the time being, Aizen had decided to limit his goals for now. He remembered what his contact from last month's Chemistry Olympiad camp had planned on.

_Aizen had just received the name of his roommate on the slip of paper handed out at the end of the first day. Reaching his assigned room, he met another kid sitting off the edge of his bed, idly skimming through a Biology textbook. He had a "precise" appearance: his white-rimmed spectacles were placed in such a way that they were not sliding down his nose. His uniquely-colored hair covered the right half of his forehead as well as parts of his reddish-orange eyes, which were covered by his glasses. Furthermore, he was wearing a blank shirt that was neatly tucked into his navy blue jeans. He seemed to be bored out of his mind, really. After observing him for a moment, Sousuke spoke up._

"_Are you Szayel Grantz?" _

_Not even looking up from his mindless activity, the pink-haired teen replied, "that would be me. You're Aizen Sousuke, correct?"_

"_Correct," he answered, slightly impressed by the other boy's aloof demeanor. "Looks like we're roommates for the next two weeks."_

_Seating himself on the bed across from the detached kid, Aizen asked, "I assume you are competent in the Biology Olympiad, am I right?"_

_Smirking and shutting the book, Szayel finally looked at Sousuke._

"_Of course. I didn't win a gold medal by pure luck," he retorted, further piquing Aizen's interest. Remembering his LTG brotha's infatuation with this Olympiad, he asked how familiar Szayel was with "Tousen Kaname." The response?_

"_Trash."_

_When pressed on, he continued. "He has a limited knowledge of laboratory procedures and was the weakest finalist last year. Furthermore, he presses too hard to demonstrate his competence, thus exposing his insecurities. There is nothing he can do that any other camp attendee can't do. As far as his chances of becoming an international participant within the next two years, I would put that at about 7 percent."_

_Taking this all in, Aizen felt something eating away in the back of his mind. "How many years were you a finalist before making the IBO team??"_

_Szayel lay down on his bed before replying, "Well, I didn't make it in 7__th__ grade so I took AP Biology the next year to advance. So I participated in the camp for 3 years before I made the traveling team."_

_This made Aizen relax a little; he wasn't an idiot for qualifying for the study camp two consecutive years and not even being an alternate. However, he had taken AP Biology a year earlier and tried his hand at the Biology Olympiad from eighth grade onwards. Hell, he had even been invited to the camp the past two years. Upon telling his acquaintance about this, the other guy showed slight surprise. _

_"Why didn't you come, then? I'm sure you would have made internationals too," Szayel stated , sitting back up and looking into the other's eyes._

"_I chose the chemistry camp both times," he answered, grimacing at the possibilities._

"_Tch," the gold medalist scoffed, closing his eyes for a few seconds. "That's insane; you must be keen on research then."_

_Sousuke gave his trademark crazed smile and the two delved into discussing their projects. Evidently, Szayel performed independent research on the effects of nerve gas on rats in his basement, away from authoritative eyes. He wanted to try another project involving biohazards; he even acknowledged that this work was clearly off the record and he would not enter any research competition next year._

_After an hour of discussing neurons, satellite cells, and biological warfare, Aizen asked his comrade where he was applying to colleges._

"_I am definitely going to an American school. They salivate over these medals…so my list, by priority, is Johns Hopkins, MIT, Harvard, Caltech, and Cornell. What about you?"_

"_I'm taking the American route as well. MIT, Princeton, and Harvard are my top three choices, although I am heavily leaning towards MIT."  
_

"_Che, you'll get in everywhere," Szayel remarked. "You won first place at ISEF, right? That's an automatic entrance into any college."_

"_I sure hope so," Aizen said, feeling strangely reassured._

_Throughout the two weeks, the two came to understand each other's ideals better. Aizen divulged his own, whereas Szayel just wanted a society where science prevailed above all else. Thus, despite the shock that was his third mishap in a row, seeing as how he only qualified as an alternate, Aizen felt he had gotten something out of it this year._

_As they parted ways, Aizen gave his number and IM screen-name to Szayel._

"_I have a feeling we'll be speaking to each other soon."_

_Grantz gave a slight smile. "So do I. Don't let the lack of room bother you…__**when we're in the States, we'll have plenty of space to research."**__ Turning around and heading for his train, he put his hand in the air. "Until then, Aizen."_

He had not forgotten this guarantee.

Setting up Grimmjaw in one chair and Noitora in another, Aizen donned a pair of latex gloves and rummaged around for a vial of clear liquid and two syringes. Finding them after a few minutes, he loaded up 400 milligrams of liquid in each syringe. Heading over to Grimmjaw first, he searched for a vein along the right arm. Grabbing some cotton and alcohol swabs from a nearby counter, he wiped the area near the top of his forearm clean with the ethanol.

"You will be very useful in the future, Grimmjaw," he muttered to the sleeping form. Slowly, he injected the needle of one of the syringes into Jack's arm, just below his elbow. Watching the liquid finally dispense from the syringe and enter the vein, he carefully removed the needle and quickly placed a cotton swab in its stead. Using his left hand to hold on, he found a band-aid on a desk and applied it snugly onto the cotton with his right.

Repeating the process with Noitora, Aizen dragged the two back out of the lab and back to his living room. Getting a glass of water from the sink, he flicked a few drops of liquid onto their faces. Seeing them start to stir, Aizen picked up his weight belts and placed them on the nearby armchair.

Noitora came to first, then Grimmjaw.

"What the fuck happened…why am I here?" a temporarily disoriented Grimmjaw asked. Noitora had similar thoughts.

"You two fell asleep while I was describing how useful these things are," Aizen gestured to the weight belts. Handing one to each of them, he continued. "As I was saying before you passed out, you should wear these while you lift weights; whenever you want to perform a one-rep maximum, you will take these belts off and laugh at the difference as well as how strong you've become."

These two looked like kids on the last day of school.

"Alright! This shit rapes! You are the fuckin' man, Aizen!" Grimmjaw jubilantly yelled.

"Yeah, this is some good shit right here," Noitora replied, fastening the 30 pound belt around his waist.

"You're quite welcome," Aizen replied as the two made their way out. "Let me know how it goes in September," he said, bidding them farewell and closing the door before smiling.

They would never discover on their own what had been done to them; it was best if things stayed that way for a while.

_Present_

"How about we get a quick game of 'twenty one' going, perhaps?" Gin's voice snapped him out of his thoughts.

"Sure, who wants to break to start the game? Aizen…" Jack called for Sousuke, who grinned at this opportunity. About two steps behind the three point line, he looked at Gin and Grimmjaw, who were waiting for him to shoot but were a bit too close for comfort.

"I need a little room to breathe…" they took a step forward, as did he. Aizen Sousuke was now… one step closer to the edge and-

"I'm about to break."

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Just five minutes after pouring the cereal for his first bowl, Hanatarou was speeding through his fifth. Whenever he felt a strong emotion, he would overeat. One time, he had a naughty naughty dream about Rukia and himself. When he woke up sweating, he ran down to the kitchen and had about eight bowls of Fruity Pebbles©.

Thinking of people to help him out, he realized everyone in Soul Society would hate him, and he would probably be in a cast for a week after Ichigo was through with him.

At this moment, Yamada took time to reflect on the foolishness of his actions. Yes, he liked Rukia, but for some reason he wanted to feel tough sitting behind a computer screen, so he went and said mean things to her. Actually, he felt so bad he did not notice the tears falling down his face. He silently continued eating his tear-laden cereal while wondering what he would be in life. He was neither smart nor athletic. He had neither connections nor friends…although he did have one great dream where he was a pimp, but he never told anyone about it; if he/she heard about it, that person would do on of the three:

Laugh at him

Beat him senseless

C) Ignore him

Realizing he was finished, Hanatarou put the bowl back in the sink, wied his eyes, and smiled at him.

"Ahhh time for bowl number 6!"

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"Yo dad, can Gin and Aizen come over and eat?" Jack was asking his father to set up the barbecue so that the three of them could have some burgers and hot dogs. The game had been intense; Gin and Aizen each hit up to 19 before being tapped down to zero (A/N: learn how to play "twenty one" in basketball if you're confused). In the end, Jack snuck by with the win, but not before Gin reached 21 again yet failed to nail the half-court shot to win, thus dropping his score back down to 15.

After a few seconds, Jack said goodbye to his dead. "Yo, you guys can come over."

As Aizen drove to Jack's house, he took into account the type of person he would be dealing with. Grimmjaw John was a…strange individual to deal with, to say the least. For starters, he was an American businessman who had come to Japan before Jack was born. Supposedly, he had come because he had dealings with the mafia and was running low on money; the more likely explanation was that he was smart and taking advantage of a good opportunity, since 1 American dollar was equivalent to approximately 100 yen. However, from the way Jack spoke to his father, one could only assume he was twice as intimidating.

Pulling up behind the Diablo at Jack's house, Aizen stepped out of the drivers seat while Gin got out of the passengers' side.

"Come 'round the back," Jack called out to the other two. Aizen and Gin followed him to the deck on the back, where a large table with all sorts of condiments and utensils was set up. At the grill was none other than…

"Good afternoon, Grimmjaw-san," Aizen called out to Jack's father. Although not as tall as his son, John Grimmjaw was stockier and had deep brown eyes; plus, his hair was slicked back, which might have accounted for the suspicion that he was a mob boss. Although he knew some Japanese, he was someone it was better to speak in English to lest you wanted to get made fun of by him.

"Hey hey hey! Four eyes! What's happening?!" he called out to Sousuke. This was another trait of Grimmjaw-san: he loved to make fun of people, even with trite and hopelessly unfunny jokes, which made Gin's chuckle inexplicable…unless he was laughing at the sight of Jack being calm for once because of his dad's presence.

Ignoring him, Aizen sat down at the table as he and the other two high schoolers grabbed their plates from the center of the tables.

"So what will you three be having?" Grimmjaw-san asked the three of them. Gin and Jack asked for two hamburgers and a hot dog.

"What about you four eyes?" Aizen mentally laughed at the guy's idiocy. Once it might have been funny, but a second time…not so much!

"You're killing me, Grimmjaw," Aizen replied, intentionally dropping the honorific. "Two hot dogs and a cheeseburger," he replied.

"It's a joke, dumbass!" John replied, earning sniggers from the other two, especially Gin. "Nah, I shouldn't be sayin' that stuff, one day four eyes is gonna be performin' surgery on me."

Giving off a fake smile, Aizen answered. "Sounds like a plan; I'll be sure to cut your ACL nice enough." He was positive that everyone had picked up on the double meaning within that statement.

"And I'll be sure to beat your ass afterwards," Grimmjaw shot back.

The atmosphere settled back into one of equanimity shortly thereafter; everyone was eating their over-flavored, trans-fatty American food. Aizen wasn't one to want to develop cancer, but he knew that red meat every once in a while did not hurt either, so he decided to apply ample amounts of ketchup, relish, and mustard.

Of course, Grimmjaw had to break the silence. "So how're them Ruskies feelin' about that Cold War?" Yet another attempt to attack Aizen. With a Russian father and a Japanese mother, he had received anti-Russian comments before. However, he never cared if someone did insult "mother Russia" because he felt no nationalist pride the way most people felt towards their ethnic nations. He could have been part Kenyan and he wouldn't have given a damn if people made AIDS jokes about his parents. However, Grimmjaw was known to take ethnic insults to the extreme, effectively killing any humor Aizen might have seen in them.

"Yeah, they got their bitch asses handed to them back in '91," Gin chimed in like the opportunist he was.

"Hey, shut the hell up! We don't curse in this family!" Grimmjaw yelled. Apparently, the "Mrs." was not in town for a while. The few times he had met her, Aizen had come to believe that she was the rock that kept the unstable group together. Considering Jack's younger brothers James and Joseph were all over the place, he was amazed that she managed to keep her cool in the middle of the circus show.

Naturally, the hypocrite resumed his bashing of the former Soviet Union.

"Those fuckin' commies actually thought they could beat democracy! U.S.A! All the way!" Grimmjaw loudly boasted as he was joined by his son.

"They beat the U.S. to space, that's for sure. Ever hear of Sputnik?" Aizen asked, deciding to restore a semblance of objectivity, but actually causing an uproar as the Grimmjaws started yelling at him before John told his son to "shut the fuck up!" and let him talk.

"Who made it to the moon first? Yeah that's right, commie-boy."

Gin decided to speak up on Aizen's behalf. "My my, yer gon' make 'im hate us, Grimmjaw-san!"

"Don't worry," Grimmjaw chuckled before continuing. "He comes from Russia with Love!" This statement prompted howls of laughter from everyone except Aizen.

"Please don't flatter yourself, Grimmjaw," he said through a cheery façade. "You might become as good a humorist as Renji."

Calming down, John scoffed. "Renji? Abarai? Abarai (1) cut that gay pony tail of his so he doesn't look like such a bitch?!"

Same result, except Aizen actually chuckled at this. For the time being, he had shifted the spotlight away from him.

"What a fuckin' jigger," the Grimmjaws laughed again. This time Gin asked, "what's a jigger?"

"The Japanese version of a wigger!" Jack completed before bursting out into laughter. Neither Gin nor Aizen found this funny, but the former laughed anyway. Unfortunately, the next question was directed back at Aizen.

"So genius, where you goin' to next year?"

Deciding to play Grimmjaw's game, he answered, "Probably Tokyo Community College," which angered the other man.

"Hey buddy I asked you a serious question, so give me a fuckin' serious answer for once," he snarled.

Sighing, Aizen divulged. "Probably MIT. Do you plan on moving back to the States just to follow me back there?"

Gin shook his head. "That wasn' funny, Aizen." Where the fuck did he come from? Oh that's right: he followed the "when in doubt, side with the Grimmjaw" rule.

"Didn't someone go to MIT recently?" Grimmjaw inquired.

"Yes, Schiffer Ulquiorra was accepted last year," Sousuke replied, certain of where this conversation was headed. He had already heard two scoffs as the name was mentioned.

"That emo fag? I didn't know you swung that way, four eyes!" Again with the four eyes crap; there it was, more degrading comments.

"Dad, there's a reason we used to call him Shitty Schiffer," Jack lied through his teeth. No one had ever said that because it was such a phailure of an insult. Of course, John didn't realize that and roared at the comment.

"THAT is fuckin' brilliant Jack….fucking haza with that green paint. What the fuck was up with that? He probably was a bitch cutter too…hey Russia," Grimmjaw addressed Aizen. "You musta gotten close enough to him to see his wrists. How red were they? Or did he not take his clothes off for ya?"

"Seems as if you know a lot about this cutting business, Grimmjaw. Care to explain?" Aizen coolly replied. He was about to leave. It was almost five thirty anyway, and he wanted to go home.

Grimmjaw rose from his seat and glared daggers at the 'offender.'

"Don't fuckin' joke with me like that, commie lovin' bitch!"

Any intelligible response was drowned out by Jack's mocking of the Russian accent while saying "_Oh Russia!"_ and Gin's statements of "_For Stalin, the Red Army, and the Fatherland!"_

Then, he was gone. "Oi! Where the fuck did he go? I didn't see him get up…" John said.

Aizen had left as soon as he responded to Grimmjaw; he was already halfway back home by now.

Arriving at his house, he did some housekeeping work in his lab before signing on AIM.

Noticing that Gin had signed on, he sent the same message to everyone on his buddy list. True, these weren't his thoughts, but he would love to see the reaction at school tomorrow. Since there was nothing particularly interesting going on tomorrow and he felt like wreaking havoc on the pitiful minds of Bleach High School, he typed:

"Arm yourselves with knowledge: John Grimmjaw works for the mafia."

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Hanatarou was done eating cereal for the day; he had felt extra hungry from crying, so he added another four bowls to give him a grand total of ten. Returning to his computer, he noticed a new IM had popped up:

**KyoukaSuigetsu:** Arm yourselves with knowledge, John Grimmjaw works for the mafia.

Completely ignoring the actual statement by examining who spoke and not what was said, Hanatarou felt his heart leap with joy. Someone had actually IMed him.

"I need to celebrate!" he triumphantly declared before heading back for…more Fruity Pebbles…

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The next day, Aizen made sure to avoid confrontation with Grimmjaw. However, at lunch he was walking to his car to eat there (like hell he would sit next to a pissed off Jack) when he heard the rowdy kid about fifteen feet away yelling, "yeah, Aizen's been talkin' mad shit."

The trek to his car after-school would be much more difficult to finagle.

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Hanatarou purposely came in late the next day to avoid third period Accounting with Ichigo. Unfortunately, he still had Lunch with him. Trying to slip out of school and head to the parking lot as diligently as possible, he made it only ten feet away from his locker when a hand slammed against the locker in front of him, an arm protruding from it as well as shoulder and face of…a pissed off Ichigo.

"Ohayo, Hanatarou," Ichigo casually replied with a fake smile.

"O-ohayo, Ichigo-san," Hanatarou trembled in fear.

"So, I hear you called my Rukia a midget?"

Yamada scrambled to form words. "A-ah, w-wel-"

"and SUPPOSEDLY," Ichigo cut him off, then paused for dramatic effect. "I can't do _anything_ to you?"

"I-I can explain!" Hanatarou said. The next thing he knew, he had his face up against the locker and his left arm being painfully twisted behind his back.

"Ow ow ow ow ow!"

"Don't worry, I won't do anything to you…_yet_," Kurosaki dangerously continued. Letting go of Hanatarou, he turned to walk away while the victim rubbed his sore left shoulder.

Turning his head back so that only half his face could be seen by the weaker kid, he slyly added, "Enjoy your last two hours on this planet." With a smirk, he left a kid who was scared shitless slide down the locker.

_Me and my big mouth…. _

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They were hot on his trail; thus, he decided to take a detour to the parking lot. In order to do so, he would essentially circumnavigate the school, exiting out of a backdoor entrance. That was the plan, at least. Then_, Zaraki Kenpachi _of all people and Jack's biggest rival, and his boys, which included Ikkaku and Yumichika, joined the chase. Aizen's guess was that they wanted to either beat him up and then beat up Grimmjaw's gang or just experience the thrill of the hunt.

Changing up his strategy, Aizen ran down a flight of stairs and headed outside. He was now hiding behind walls and the like to capture the Metal Gear Solid feel. Seeing one of Jack's people turn onto the opposite corner of the extension of the building, he quickly spun to the other face of the building to avoid being seen. About fifty yards to his left was the lot. In order to get there without being detected, he needed to go around to the lot's backside; this meant an additional two hundred yards. However, he barely took twn steps after rounding the corner.

"What do we have here?" Jack smirked as Aizen slowly backed away, only to feel another presence.

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Hanatarou left his last period class two minutes early to avoid the scrum of people who would be after his scrawny ass.

Unfortunately, Ichigo and Renji saw him as he was less than seventy yards from the parking lot himself. "Hey, Onnada, it's time for a royal ass-whoopin'" Ichigo said from afar, smiling in anticipation.

As calmly as possible, the boy retreated from the approaching mass of people only to feel someone else's back.

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"AH!" About to turn around, Hanatarou felt a kick to his thigh and stopped.

"Don't move," Aizen muttered. "I have a plan to get us out of this mess." _I know this is wrong, but I can't help it…_

"Well, it looks like we got two trash-talkers cornered and up against the proverbial wall," Ichigo said, still smiling.

"Which one of them should we pound first, Grimmjaw?" Everyone was cracking their knuckles.

"Hmm…your call!" Grimmjaw replied.

"Now start crying like the world is going to end," Aizen whispered.

"N-nani?" Hanatarou replied. "That's stupid!" he hissed back.

"Just do it, Yamada-kun."

"Ah, alright. Here goes."

As if on cue, he started bawling like there was no tomorrow. "P-please d-don't h-hurt me Ichigo-san! I swear it was an accident! I w-wont insult y-you or R-rukia-sama ever again!"

"Aww…" Grimmjaw mocked. "Looks like the baby needs to change his diaper!"

Everyone within the vicinity started to laugh until Kon noticed something amiss.

"Hey, where's Aizen?"

Grimmjaw's eyes widened. "That-"

The next thing he knew, he was on the ground with a sharp pain in his…hram, as were Ichigo, Renji, Zaraki, Ikkaku, Yumichika, and Kon.

In a harbinger of things to come, Hanatarou was thrown on Aizen's shoulder as the two made their escape to the Lexus. As the remaining twenty people started to chase them, Aizen pulled out of his parking spot, revved up the motor and looked directly into Yamada's eyes.

"Buckle up."

"T-that bitch! How the FUCK did he do that?!" Grimmjaw screamed, still nursing his hram with a pained expression. He had the odds against Aizen, and yet the man had still won. How was it possible?

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The engine revved up and hit 5000 RPM within a matter of seconds. Hanatarou was lurched back into his seat by the force.

"Arigatou gosai masu, Aizen-san," he looked hopefully at the driver, whose eyes were fixed on the road ahead of him.

"Not a problem Yamada-kun. I was in a tight spot myself." _Not really, I could have left any time I wanted…._

Aizen kept that thought to himself, however. There was no need to break the kid like that.

After guiding Sousuke to his house, Hanatarou got out and turned around to face Aizen while playing with his fingers.

"I just have one question, Aizen-san." He mumbled while fidgeting around. "What was the purpose of me crying? Was it to distract them?"

_I can't hold it in much longer. _With a half-smile, Aizen replied.

"Not exactly. I just wanted to see if the rumors were true."

"What rumors?" Yamada asked.

"That you cry like a girl. Congratulations, you pass." Those were his last words before driving off.

"H-hey!" Hanatarou kicked a pebble and looked back to the ground. "That's not very nice…"

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Returning home, Aizen decided to rest a while. The past two days had been fun indeed. Not only had Grimmjaw actually thought he could talk back to his superior and get away with it, but he had established a relationship with Hanatarou; this would make his future plans much easier.

Despite Gin's insubordination yesterday, he decided to IM him.

**KyoukaSuigetsu**: You should have stayed for the show.

**Shinsou727:** lol

**Shinsou727:** lemme guess, ya pwned them?

**KyoukaSuigetsu:** In a word, yes.

**Shinsou727**: lol

**KyoukaSuigetsu**: I saved Yamada-kun as well.

**Shinsou727**: LOL

**Shinsou727**: why'd ya help out that phailure?

**KyoukaSuigetsu:** Trust me, you'll see the foresight behind the move soon enough.

**Shinsou727**: Always three steps ahead of da game, aren't ya Aizen

**KyoukaSuigetsu**: Absolutely.

**Shinsou727:** lol

**Shinsou727**: ite I gtg ttyl

**KyoukaSuigetsu**: Till tomorrow.

**Shinsou727: **adios

**Shinsou727 signed off at 3:15 PM**

After an uneventful day of watching ESPN, Aizen called it an early night at 9:40 PM. Settling into a blissful state of semi-sleep, he wondered what the plan was for tomorrow.

All of a sudden, he realized it was February 14th, Valentines Day.

_Looks like I'll have to deal with a lot more liberal behavior tomorrow. _

A/N: Well, another chapter of LTG Uncut...I promise I won't insult you this blatantly for the rest of the fic, Grimmjaw...I just had to get it out of the way.

Footnotes:

1. "Abarai" is supposed to sound like " How 'bout I" the way he says it.


End file.
